Email
Print
SharePune: Guided by the humanitarian philosophy of Jamshetji Tata, founder of the House of Tatas, the Taj Group has pulled out all stops in providing assistance and compensation to victims of the 26/11 terror attack.
Noshir Kamdin, father of 28-year-old Kaizad, who was a sous chef at the Taj, said the company had taken the line that since several hundred crores would be spent on rebuilding the hotel, why not spend equally on those who died?
Kamdin said he was told by a member of the senior management that the compensation for every employee who was killed ranges from Rs36 lakh to Rs85 lakh in addition to the full last salary till the employee's scheduled retirement; complete responsibility for the education of children anddependents anywhere in the world; full medical facility for the entire family and dependents for the rest of their lives; waiver of all loans and advances irrespective ofamount; and counsellor for life for each person.
All categories of employees, including those who had completed just one day as casual employees, were treated as 'on duty' during the time the hotel was closed.
A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel all those who needed such help.Every employee was assigned one mentor and it was that person's responsibility to act as a "single window" for any help that the person required.
The management member also told Kamdin that a large number of people who had nothing to do with the Tatas were also covered with the compensationpackage. This included railway employees, police staff, and pedestrians. They were provided with subsistence allowance of Rs10,000 a month for six months.
Several lakhs were spent on the hospitalisation and recovery of the four-year-old granddaughter of a vendor. The child had suffered four bullet wounds.
The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at CST and its environs, including a pav bhaji vendor and some paan shop owners.
Apart from visiting the families of the 80 employees of the Taj who were killed or injured,
Ratan Tata created a new trust to provide relief to the employees in just 20 days.
